I have shaved my EPIC award winning mutton chops to grow a... ugh... mustache... for Movember. Here is to a month of looking stupid for a good cause!

Monday, November 7, 2011

A history of Movember

Movember (Mo is slang for mustache, added to the word November, get it?) is an annual month-long event where men grow mustaches to help promote discussions about cancer, as well as raise funds for various cancer fighting charities.

Movember was started by a group of Australian men in 1999 from Adelaide, and like all good ideas it was birthed from a night in a pub. For Australians starting their summer season not having facial hair in November is not a big deal (come to think of it Australia is normally warmer than the rest of the world, so while Movember is a good cause, it just might also be Australia's way of giving the finger to the men of the rest of the world who suddenly are finding themselves pretty darn cold in the face for the month).

Movember quickly caught on around the world, and by 2004 the Movember Foundation Charity was set up to help raise awareness and money for various men's health issues in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007 events were launched in Canada, The United States, Ireland, Israel, Scotland, England, Spain, Denmark, South Africa and Greece. By 2011 men in countries all over the world were signing up to help raise funds for Movember and suddenly just about every man on the planet has started to look like a hipster for one month.

Rumor has it that Movember is also called "Novembeard", but I have learned this fact a little late in the game. A beard would be so much warmer for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.

There are rules for Movember:

1, Shave October 31st, or if you are getting lucky that night, first thing in the morning (or afternoon) on November 1st when you make it home after doing the walk of shame. Or the walk of high fives if you just had a threesome.

2, Grow a mustache every day until December 1st (you can shave it at 12:01am, or decide to keep it if you are digging that hipster look. But people like me will mock you for the rest of your life).

3, Be proud of the lip fuzz you grow!

Movember... it almost makes up for Australia forcing Vegemite on the world... ALMOST.